The invention relates generally to a mowing device such as a lawn mower/tractor and in particular to a movable deflector or discharge chute therefor.
Lawn tractors and lawn mowers often have a side-located discharge port for the debris cut/vacuumed by a rotating blade or other cutters. This discharge port often communicates with some form of collecting device, such as a bag. However, many times it is more convenient for the user to simply allow the material to discharge to the ground. Unfortunately, removing the collecting device from the discharge port tends to expose the blade as well as allowing the debris to be propelled into the air at high velocities.
To guard the blade and to prevent airborne debris, one approach is to simply cover the discharge port with a plate. This keeps the debris within the blade housing or mower deck until the debris falls to the ground. While this may be desirable for such applications as mulching, in general, it interferes with the proper operation of the blade and makes the debris difficult to remove when employed extensively.
A more generally desirable approach is to provide the discharge port with a fixed deflector the allows the debris to exit the mower deck, but deflects the debris toward the ground. In this way, the debris is not repeatedly struck by the blade, nor is the debris airborne. This allows excellent performance, especially when mowing wet and/or high vegetation.
While a fixed deflector provides adequate performance with respect to the debris, it presents a major problem when trying to mow closely to obstacles on the deflector side of the mower. Typically, this requires that all mowing close to obstacles be done on the opposite side of the mower deck. As a result, mowing around objects must be done in one direction (e.g. counterclockwise) and all mowing next to a fence or wall must be approached from a single direction.
In addition, a fixed deflector may present problems when mowing on uneven ground. In these conditions, the deflector may dig into the ground, uprooting turf or even damaging the mower/deflector. Also it would be advantageous if it was possible to install a bagger on the mower without first removing the deflector.